Introduction:
A Cooling Effect on Climate Change

Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) is a program that encourages
residents to reduce the amount of waste they generate
and to recycle more. The benefits of this program
go beyond the obvious advantages of generating less
waste. The manufacture and distribution of products
and the subsequent management of municipal solid
waste (MSW) contribute to the formation of greenhouse
gases. To lower greenhouse gas emissions from these
actions, as well as for other environmental benefits,
EPA is encouraging waste prevention and recycling
(jointly referred to as waste reduction) through
the PAYT Outreach Initiative.

What Is PAYT?

PAYT programs break with tradition by ensuring
that households see and feel the cost of waste disposal
services. Under a traditional system, residents
pay indirectly
for these services through their property taxes
or through a flat fee. With PAYT, residents pay
directly for trash services based on the amount
of waste they throw away-similar to the way they
pay for electricity, gas, and other utilities.

When consumers pay for every bag or can of waste
they generate, they are motivated to recycle more
and look for creative ways to prevent waste in the
first place. In communities that implement PAYT,
overall waste disposal can decline by 14 to 27 percent
on average. In addition, recycling rates often increase
dramatically in these communities, sometimes reaching
double or even triple what they had been before
the program was implemented.

Some residents in PAYT communities change their
behavior in other significant ways. While shopping,
they are more likely to purchase items in bulk and
to select products with the least amount of unnecessary
packaging. Rather than throw items away, a PAYT
household is likely to look first for ways to reuse
these goods or to give them away, as charitable
donations, for example. Rather than bag yard trimmings
and leaves, households might choose instead to compost
these materials in their backyards.

How
Does PAYT Help Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

More Information

For more information on climate change and waste
reduction, including EPA's study on greenhouse gases
and waste management, access EPA's Climate
Change and Waste Web site. To order EPA's tool
kit for planners interested in implementing PAYT,
as well as a video, fact sheets, guidebooks, and
other materials, visit the PAYT Resoures
section.

PAYT programs are based on a simple premise: trash
services are not free. One important cost of solid
waste, in addition to its other environmental effects,
is climate change. Whenever products are made, distributed,
and disposed of, greenhouse gases are released and
contribute to climate change. Community PAYT programs-which
spur residents to prevent and recycle more waste-can
reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly.

When we reduce, reuse, and recycle products, we
decrease the greenhouse gas emissions associated
with making, distributing, and disposing of these
products. For example, when we buy in bulk, we purchase
less packaging. That means lower energy requirements
for manufacturing. It means less waste that might
create methane emissions in landfills, and, if paper
products are at issue, it means more trees standing
in the forest to absorb greenhouse gases from the
atmosphere.

Is it possible to measure the climate change benefits
of PAYT? Yes! To help quantify the climate change
benefits of waste reduction programs such as PAYT,
EPA conducted a comprehensive study of the relationship
between solid waste management and climate change.
The study estimated the greenhouse gas emissions
associated with managing major commodity types in
the MSW stream. The study resulted in the development
of greenhouse gas emission factors that can be used
to calculate the climate change benefits of various
waste management practices.

To analyze the specific climate change benefits
of PAYT programs, EPA used these greenhouse gas
emission factors in combination with the results
of a PAYT study conducted by researchers at Duke
University. The Duke study analyzed program statistics
from 212 PAYT communities across the country and
calculated the average amount of per capita waste
reduction experienced by these communities. EPA
then calculated the per capita climate change impact
of PAYT using this average PAYT waste reduction
percentage and the greenhouse gas emission factors.

EPA estimates that for each person participating
in a PAYT program, greenhouse gas emissions are
reduced by an average of 0.088 metric tons of carbon
equivalent (MTCE, the basic unit of measure for
greenhouse gases). This means that a community of
100,000 people could potentially reduce greenhouse
gas emissions by 8,800 MTCE by implementing a PAYT
program. This calculation is based on the assumption
that residents in PAYT communities recycle a mix
of the most common recyclable materials (e.g., plastic
bottles, newspapers, steel and aluminum cans).

How
Can I Measure Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions?

Along with the more obvious recycling and waste
prevention impacts of PAYT, measuring its climate
change benefits can help describe a program's full
environmental advantages to elected officials, residents,
and other stakeholders. Also, waste reduction programs
such as PAYT can play an integral part in a community's
climate change action plan. Here's how you can calculate
the potential climate change benefits of your PAYT
program:

Use
the National Average. If you wish to use the
national average for greenhouse gas reductions,
you can multiply the number of program participants
by 0.088 MTCE as illustrated in the example above.
The resulting number is the estimated average annual
reduction in greenhouse gases for your program.

Use
Local Data. If you wish to obtain an estimate
tailored to your community's specific PAYT program,
you can apply your own data by using EPA's WAste
Reduction Model (WARM). This easy-to-use spreadsheet
applies the same greenhouse gas emission factors
mentioned above to your community's specific waste
management situation. Please note that in order
to use WARM, you will need to have data on the amount
of waste your community generated and reduced both
before and after PAYT was implemented. WARM is available
on EPA's
Climate Change and Waste Web site.

Pay-as-you-throw gives individuals
an incentive to generate less trash and recycle
more.

Should
your community consider PAYT?

If your community's planners are looking for ways
to get residents to put more recyclables out at
the curb and generate less trash, then the answer
is probably yes. The additional climate change benefits
enjoyed by PAYT communities show that it can be
an environmentally sustainable way to manage our
nation's solid waste.